NCFCDSA Complaints Policy
Notts County Football Club DSA has set out within this policy a range of processes and outcomes to ensure the integrity of NCFCDSA can be upheld.
This policy details the expectations of NCFCDSA with regards to its committee members and all involved with our activities. If you are unhappy with any aspect of your experience, this policy explains the steps taken to ensure a fair and transparent outcome for all involved.
Service standards
NCFCDSA aims to provide a high level of support to both the club and its supporters. In working toward this, we aim to provide a professional and responsive service to all.
We will:
Ensure you receive timely and knowledgeable advice.
Be courteous and respectful.
Inform you of significant changes to the way we operate.
Operate a no tolerance approach to abuse, harassment and discrimination, reflect upon feedback.
The service standards we set are for guidance, rather than being absolute and we trust that you will take into consideration our position as volunteers when judging our performance.
NCFCDSA will conduct themselves in a courteous and responsive manner, listening to your requests and concerns and advising you of what can be provided and in what manner. Where we are not able to meet your request, we will let you know why and attempt to signpost you to the most appropriate place for you to direct your request. We will treat all people with respect and without discrimination, making any necessary adjustments to accommodate reasonable needs, wherever practicable.
Correspondence
We have a dedicated email address which is ncfcdsa@outlook.com which is
monitored by the secretary. Any complaints, once received, will be forwarded to the chair and together they will try to address or forwarded to the committee as deemed appropriate. We aim to acknowledge all communications within 5 working days, and we aim to provide a full response in 30 working days. Any complaints sent to an individual at NCFCDSA will be forwarded to the Official Email for recording and forwarding.
Complaints
In striving to be the best we can, NCFCDSA is seeking to continuously improve the service we deliver and to learn from any complaints. For this purpose, we record all complaints and any resulting learning, and these are reported to the committee on a regular basis.
Complaints Relating to NCFCDSA
A complaint is considered to be an expression of dissatisfaction with the policies, decisions, service provision and or the behaviour of a NCFCDSA volunteer or the committee as a whole.
Complaints can be made verbally or in writing, though formal complaints should be made in writing wherever possible or the person making the complaint verbally must expressly state that it is a complaint. The complainant will decide whether they are making an informal or formal complaint.
Complaints Relating to Individuals,
NCFCDSA is responsible for upholding fair play, respect and consistency and transparency within the organisation. As a result, it may be required for NCFCDSA to investigate to bring matters to a close and ensure an objective investigation can be concluded.
NCFCDSA consider the following to be matters for complaint.
Disciplinary cases.
Misconduct of Committee and Volunteers.
Actions of a Criminal Nature (e.g. Safeguarding, Discrimination, Harassment,
Fraudulent Activity, Violent or Threatening Behaviour).
Any other action or behaviour that may be deemed to bring Notts County Football Club or the DSA into disrepute (e.g. malicious or threatening conduct).
Actions or behaviours that fall outside of this will be referred back to the appropriate individual.
Informal Complaints
An informal complaint is more of a comment, recommendation or smaller issue that does not require a formal response, e.g. someone just wants to air a concern and ensure that a member of the committee is aware of the issue.
NCFCDSA will try to resolve a complaint as quickly as possible. Where suitable, this shall be done when the complaint is first received. In most instances, this will probably be more achievable where the complaint is an informal one. No investigation or disciplinary action should be taken as a result of an informal complaint. Rather, a no-blame, conciliatory approach should be used to assist the individuals in reaching an outcome that will ensure appropriate conduct in the future.
The main focus is to address the individuals’ concerns and address them, without further interruption. Although this may result in an acceptable resolution for the complainant, the person who has handled the complaint should make a note of the date of the complaint; who has made it; what it was about and how it was dealt with and forward this to the email for recording.
An informal approach will be treated as completely confidential.
Formal Complaints
A formal complaint is when a person has a dissatisfaction that they want investigated and a formal response made to them.
All formal complaints should be addressed directly to ncfcdsa@outlook.com in the first instance.
We recognise that people may not always feel comfortable about discussing their concerns, especially if they believe that NCFCDSA itself is responsible for wrongdoing.
The aim of this policy is to ensure that you are confident that you can raise any matter with NCFCDSA that concerns you in the knowledge that it will be taken seriously, treated as confidential and that no action will be taken against you.
If the matter requires further investigation, such an investigation will be carried out and you will be informed of the outcome and what, if any, action has been taken. If you remain unhappy about the speed or conduct of the investigation or the way in which the matter has been resolved, you should refer the matter to The Chair. When your complaint has been investigated, you will be informed of the result and what, if any, action has been taken.
If it should become clear that the procedure has not been invoked in good faith, for example for malicious reasons or to pursue a personal grudge against an individual, this will constitute misconduct.
NCFCDSA recognises there may be matters that cannot be dealt with internally and external authorities may need to become involved. Where this is necessary NCFCDSA reserves the right to make such a referral without your consent.
What this Policy Does Not Cover?
There are some complaints that NCFCDSA cannot investigate, such as:
Personal disputes not related NCFCDSA.
Online/social media comments *unless bringing the club into disrepute or of a criminal nature and will be passed to Police.
Matters relating to the normal business of the Committee.
Issues relating to events delivered by third parties we will refer any matters such
as this back to an appropriate group so that the correct process can be followed.
How a Complaint will be Addressed
A formal complaint must be made in writing to ncfcdsa@outlook.com and will be acknowledged in writing within 5 working days, with a summary of what the issue is understood to be. In this acknowledgement email, the complainant will be notified of how the matter will be progressed and who will be taking responsibility for investigating the matter. As part of any investigation into a complaint, in addition to evidence provided in a formal complaint, it may be required to obtain further written statements, or interview the complainant and other relevant witnesses.
Where a formal response is required and upon investigation, a breach of policy or constitution appears to have occurred, NCFCSA will convene a meeting to review the details of the complaint. This will involve members of the committee who have not been involved in any investigation and will independently review the details of the complaint and the group will come to a decision (by majority vote if necessary) on any necessary outcome or sanctions.
The investigating manager will consider the following, including but not limited to:
The nature of the actions and the manner in which the breach occurred.
The existence of provocation and whether the Party acted in retaliation and/or self-
defence.
The effect on the victim, including any injury caused.
The vulnerability of the victim.
The effect of any actions on NCFCDSA.
The level of premeditation.
Absence or lack of remorse.
Status as a persistent offender.
Prolongation of the incident.
The continued use of offensive, abusive and insulting language and/or behaviour.
Aggressive behaviour towards anyone within the Notts County Football Club community.
The need for a deterrent to combat the particular pattern of offending.
Whether the complaint refers to behaviour of a discriminatory nature.
Any element of physical violence.
Whether the complaint refers to more than one breach of policies, or constitution.
A good disciplinary record.
Good character.
Conduct of the subject of the complaint during any investigation.
Any mitigating factors where possible, complaints will be investigated, and a proposed resolution made within 30 working days of its acknowledgement.
Potential outcomes of a complaint
A complaint, if found to be valid, will be responded to with one or more of the below:
An apology.
A proposed remedy for the complainant.
An indication of what improvement will be made to prevent the problem
occurring again.
Progression to a disciplinary case if the investigation discloses a potential breach of a policy or constitution.
Complaints found to be frivolous, vexatious or malicious, the complainant may be subject to disciplinary proceedings if they are a member. Repeated frivolous or vexatious complaints may lead to the withdrawal of services or communications by NCFCDSA, to that individual.
It may be necessary to deal with some complaints as a safeguarding issue and you will be informed if your complaint is dealt with in this way.
Appeal
Where the complainant remains unsatisfied with the outcome or conduct of their complaint, there will be a right of appeal. Appeals should be forwarded ncfcdsa@outlook.com, in writing, detailing the reasons why the complainant is unsatisfied with the outcome or conduct of their complaint. The secretary will either deal with the appeal or appoint another individual, independent of the original investigation, which may be external to NCFCDSA.
Jurisdiction
NCFCDSA is an independent supporters group and any autonomous bodies, as well as clubs and other connected participants are accountable for their own affairs and this policy does not impart accountability on the part of NCFCDSA for any of those autonomous bodies. However, we will try to assist individuals who have complaints regarding other organisations where appropriate. NCFCDSA may appoint an external, independent body to investigate, mediate or arbitrate on any appeal cases; this may be an independent panel convened by NCFCDSA or an external body such as the FSA.
Confidentiality
NCFCDSA is committed to keeping the details of your complaint confidential. Where it is necessary to investigate a complaint and speak to the subject(s) of your complaint or witnesses, we will inform you that we are doing so. We will also inform these parties that the details of the complaint remain confidential.
Where disciplinary cases are pursued, again, we would anticipate that all details remain confidential and only those investigating and involved in the investigation are aware of the complaint.
In certain circumstances, we cannot guarantee that the details of your complaint will remain within NCFCDSA. Where an allegation is made of a potentially criminal nature, external agencies such as the police have to be notified, who may request details held on the allegation by NCFCDSA.
Where details of complaints are not kept confidential, such as disclosing personal information, sharing details of investigations with members, the general public or posting details online/social media, this may result in disciplinary action commencing.